AcroAddict's 45g mixed reef

acroaddict

Member
hello everyone. well im new here n promised to post pictures of my fish tank. well here u go. hope u enjoy.









well wat u think? more coral to come. im goin to ask my mom if i could go next week. more acros!
 

swnewb562

Member
nice tank u have going , hey iam local if u ever plan on fragging... iam in long beach soon to start my swft...
 

reefkprz

Active Member
tank looks nice. young tanks are always fun to build up. best of luck with it.
just my humble opinion here, I think you should build up your live rock.
 

acroaddict

Member
thanks everyone n maybe we might be able to trade once ur tank is up. n i was planning of adding more live rock but my lfs made a tree looking thing out of branching rocks n put lil frags of sps corals on to it. it looks nice n im tryin to do that with this tank, just waiting on my lfs to get his shipment of live rock. can u see those white branching rocks on one of those pics.
 

reefkprz

Active Member
I just checked out your profile to see what you are running for lights, I think your going to have a problem supporting SPS long term on only 86w of PC lighting, your best bet is to get them all as high up and centered under your lights as feasable. PC light intensity drop pretty sharply at 12-16 inches under water, and 45g tanks are pretty deep.
maybe consider some better lighting if your planning on mostly sps. for both growth and color reasons.
 

mr_x

Active Member
also some extra flow. you should think about adding a "sure flow" mod to one of those mj's.
btw- make sure you cure that new rock before you put it in the tank.
 
C

cmaxwell39

Guest
Welcome to the boards. Nice tank so far. How long has it been set up? You have some very nice peices there.
You are going to want to try to get the green hair algae under control before it takes over the tank. Try just manually pulling it off and mantaining your nitrates and phosphates as low as possible.
 

aquaguy24

Active Member
hey acro nice tank..i use to live in lakewood but now in long beach..where do u get ur frags from...i been lookn around town for a store that sells lots of frags not whole colonies..u ever been to stricly fish..
 

trippkid

Active Member
Before you go spending all your money on frags, I think we need to know things like equipment list, water parameters, tank age. Agree with others, that you may need more rock and definitely more flow if this is going to be mainly SPS. Checkout the mod kits for the maxi's, I use 3 of them on my 120 along with a Vortech for flow inside my tank. How are you planning on maintaining Ca/Alk/Mg. These three are very important to keep at desired levels without drastic swings from day to day or week to week, IMO. What are NO3 and PO4 readings? These need to be very, very minimal to non-existant(these can stunt growth and make them turn brown, basically kill them if they are too high also, IMO) Not trying to rain on your parade, but I would get everything in check before I'd really go crazy with new purchases. You can lose SPS very quickly if things aren't right. Good luck and have a good weekend, we are all here to help.
Tank looks pretty good so far, and I see that a couple of your Acros have began to encrust a base to your rock, that is a good start.
 

acroaddict

Member
Originally Posted by reefkprZ
http:///forum/post/2732003
I just checked out your profile to see what you are running for lights, I think your going to have a problem supporting SPS long term on only 86w of PC lighting, your best bet is to get them all as high up and centered under your lights as feasable. PC light intensity drop pretty sharply at 12-16 inches under water, and 45g tanks are pretty deep.
maybe consider some better lighting if your planning on mostly sps. for both growth and color reasons.
I have a viper 150 w de clip on lamp. maybe i forgot to add it on da equip. info sorry.
 

acroaddict

Member
Originally Posted by trippkid
http:///forum/post/2732064
Before you go spending all your money on frags, I think we need to know things like equipment list, water parameters, tank age. Agree with others, that you may need more rock and definitely more flow if this is going to be mainly SPS. Checkout the mod kits for the maxi's, I use 3 of them on my 120 along with a Vortech for flow inside my tank. How are you planning on maintaining Ca/Alk/Mg. These three are very important to keep at desired levels without drastic swings from day to day or week to week, IMO. What are NO3 and PO4 readings? These need to be very, very minimal to non-existant(these can stunt growth and make them turn brown, basically kill them if they are too high also, IMO) Not trying to rain on your parade, but I would get everything in check before I'd really go crazy with new purchases. You can lose SPS very quickly if things aren't right. Good luck and have a good weekend, we are all here to help.
Tank looks pretty good so far, and I see that a couple of your Acros have began to encrust a base to your rock, that is a good start.
thanks u for your information. ive been in this hobby for about 2 years now n still have to learn alot more. ive been getting my tank tested at my lfs n he said i have n established tank becuz nitrite phosphate n nitrate are all undetectable( just got my tank tested 2 days ago). He said my water is on tip top condition. it may look like a new tank but it has been running since december.i will be adding more rock but waiting on a shipment my lfs is getting. also about the flow. i think im good on the flow because one maxi jet is face rite where all the sps are goin to be at( on the hill looking thing) n plus the return pump is facing downward rite on top of the millipora. but since u have suggested it, im going by your word, ill get another powerhead. my sps coral is only going to be on da hill part n tha other places r going to be lps n softies. i have a sump running with a refugium n asm protien skimmer. i have carbon, algon, n sum poly filter in there. i also dose b ionic everyday. if i sound like a know it all tell me because im not an expert but a novice imo. thanks for the help guys =]
 

acroaddict

Member
Originally Posted by aquaguy24
http:///forum/post/2732057
hey acro nice tank..i use to live in lakewood but now in long beach..where do u get ur frags from...i been lookn around town for a store that sells lots of frags not whole colonies..u ever been to stricly fish..
hahahahah yea ive been there. nice fish n coral but prices are CRAZY. i have a trusted lfs who has been running his store for a while. his store is a bit run down n dirty but the owner is a real nice guy. makes deals n such.if u fallow the road goin down strictly fish youll hit lbtc. keep goin down until u hit the casino. past the casino n enter rite where 99 cent store is at. the place is called carson tropical fish. hes name is tom( the owner) n he always sells corals for cheap. the first picture of the frag it was only 10 bucks. soo were the other ones.
 

acroaddict

Member
Originally Posted by cmaxwell39
http:///forum/post/2732018
Welcome to the boards. Nice tank so far. How long has it been set up? You have some very nice peices there.
You are going to want to try to get the green hair algae under control before it takes over the tank. Try just manually pulling it off and mantaining your nitrates and phosphates as low as possible.
its not green hair algae it cheato.ive been tryin to get rid of it but i cant get every lil piece on there n it always grows back.good thing is i didnt have to buy cheato for my sump. hahaha
 

trippkid

Active Member
First off I'd like to say I am not an "expert"(I don't know if anyone really is, but that is a different story), just a hobbiest that has gotten the SPS bug from time to time in the past and basically now that is all I try to do for the last yr and a half. Just trying to get you going in the right direction. As far as parameters and testing, you need to get yourself some test kits if you plan on keep these guys happy. My suggestion would be to drop the cash for good kits like Salifert, LaMotte, Elos, Seachem can be good too(I just don't like the small testing wells from Seachem, they are good kits though). At the very least you should have PH, Ca, Mg, Alk, NO3(since you said the tank is established). With the parameters you listed, Ca needs to be about 75-100 ppm more and you need to be able to keep it pretty stable at these levels, so 425-450,up to 500 is where Ca should be. Alk is a little low at 7DKH, you should try to get this up between 8-10,IMO. These two parameters can be maintained sometimes through just water changes, but most that keep SPS have to do some type of additional dosing. This can be accomplished by: Two-part Ca/Alk solutions(this is what I am using at the moment), Calcium Reactor, Kalkwasser dosing, possibly even a combination of these methods depending on the Ca/Alk uptake from day to day.
 

acroaddict

Member
coolio then. yea i have a test kit but i think its a okay one. its called saltwater master liquid test kit. i just dose sum B-ionic after i got done testing. i think i might just dose B ionic daily because i dont have that much space for a calcium reactor or other things. thanks a lot though.
 

trippkid

Active Member
I wouldn't necessarily get a new PH, but look into the maxi-jet mod kits, it will change them from shooting(blasting) jets of water to a low velocity/high volume widely dispersed flow, which is what you want, not directly blasting your corals with a jet of water. Mixed turbulent flow, lots of it.
Also, trying to keep softies with these guys can be problematic sometimes from toxins the softies can release into the water(mainly Leather type corals), the carbon you run should be able to keep this under control, I'd make sure I kept it changed on a regular basis if you decide to continue to use, I use a product called Purigen from Seachem, is a better Carbon substitute, IMO, not as harsh but every bit as good if not better. Also, softies can tend to move around some, I'm speaking of Mushrooms mostly moving when they are reproducing, but Leathers drop babies too, so be careful. I am slowly removing all my Mushrooms from my tank, because they tend to migrate to lower areas of flow and in the process, make their way towards some of my SPS(the SPS will lose every time, not saying that it can't survive contact, but the area that is being touched will die(it can grow back, but usually will take a long time to heal these areas). I will only keep Zoa's and some Xenia with my SPS. Same goes for Anenomes, not a good idea(in case you were thinking of one of these), IMO.
 

trippkid

Active Member
Thank you very much, I try and my tank is my major passion. It really means a lot to me when people do actually comment on it(whether good or bad). Another important parameter is Magnesium(very important) this needs to be between 1300-1500ppm in order to keep proper balance of Ca and Alk(should have put that in the earlier post, just forgot) Better kits are in order when you can afford to get them, IMO, they are expensive, but much more accurate, and you will need the accuracy.
I don't know if the stuff growing from your rocks is actually Cheato, it normally just grows in a clump and tumbles around, it isn't usually a rooting type of algae, it may be something different but close. I would purchase whatever rock you want, before diving in with buying frags too, have to cure rock in an established tank can be a recipe for problems. I would set up something other than your tank to cure any new rock before putting it in your DT. You can do this with a RubberMaid tub or trash can, with a PH, heater, and water changes(a skimmer will help and speed up the process, but it is not necessary). Good luck, feel free to ask whatever you want, I will help with whatever I can. Have a good weekend.

Matt
 
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